Position: Director of the Khalili Research Centre; Professor of the Art & Archaeology of the Islamic Mediterranean; Fellow of Wolfson College

Postal Address: The Khalili Research Centre, 3 St John Street, Oxford OX1 2LG, U.K.

Direct Telephone +44  (0)1865 278198

Email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Autobiographical Note

View and download here.

Main Areas of Research

I am principally interested in the relationship between Islam and Christianity in the medieval Mediterranean as it is manifested in material and visual culture. My research has focused upon the archaeology of the transition from late antiquity to early Islam in the Levant and, especially, upon the archaeology, history and art history of Sicily under Islamic and Norman rule, from the Muslims' conquest of the island in the ninth century to the destruction of the Islamic community of Sicily by Frederick II in the 13th century.

Research Students:

I encourage enquiries from potential students wishing to conduct research in any of my main areas of research (see above), and especially from those interested in the art history and archaeology of the Islamic Mediterranean in the 7th to 12th centuries, and in the archaeology, history and art history of Sicily under Islamic and Norman rule. Please contact me by email at least two months in advance of the Oxford application deadline, which usually falls in January of the year in which you are seeking admission.

I currently supervise or have recently supervised the following research students:

• Rosa Bacile, D.Phil. (2010), 'The ‘Dynastic Mausolea’ of the Norman Period in the South of Italy, c. 1069-1189: A Study on the Form and Meaning of Burial Monuments in the Middle Ages'
• Umberto Bongianino, M.Phil. (2011–13)
• Alain George, D.Phil. (2007), 'The geometry of early Islamic calligraphy'
• Lev Kapitakin, D.Phil. (2011), 'The Twelfth-century Paintings of the Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina, Palermo'
• Augustus Lersten, M.St. 2011–12
• Tehnyat Majeed, D.Phil. (2006), 'The phenomenon of the square Kufic script : the cases of Īlkhānid Iṣfahān and Baḥrī Mamlūk Cairo'
• Amanda Phillips, D.Phil. (2010), 'Weaving as Livelihood, Style as Status: Ottoman Velvets in a Social and Economic Context, 1600-1750'
• Tim Power, D.Phil. (2010), 'The Red Sea Basin during the "Long" Late Antiquity (AD 500-1000)'
• Rebecca Sayer, M.St. (2012–13)
• Laura Walker, M.Phil. (2011–13)

Current Projects

 Follow the links below for further details of some my current projects:

Selected Recent & Forthcoming Publications:

• Nadia Jamil and Jeremy Johns, 'A new Latin-Arabic document from Norman Sicily (November 595H/1198CE)', forthcoming in a colleague's Festschrift.
• 'Alexander in the Cappella Palatina', forthcoming in a colleague's Festschrift.

• 'Muslim artists, Christian patrons and the painted ceilings of the Cappella Palatina (Palermo, Sicily, circa 1143 A.D.', forthcoming in Hadeeth ad-Dar (Dār al-Athār al-Islamīya, Kuwait).

• 'Arabic Inscriptions in the Cappella Palatina: Performativity, Audience, Legibility and Illegibility', in Antony Eastmond and Elizabeth James (eds.), Viewing texts: Inscriptions as image and ornament in the Late Antique and Medieval Mediterranean, Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2013.
• E. Morero, H. Procopiou, R. Vargiolu, J. Johns, H. Zahouani, 'Carving techniques of Fatimid rock crystal ewers (10-12th cent. A.D.)', paper delivered to 19th International Conference on Wear of Materials (Portland, Oregon: 14–18 April 2013), forthcoming in Wear 303-304 (2013), corrected proofs available here.

• Vera von Falkenhausen and Jeremy Johns, 'An Arabic-Greek charter for Archbishop Nicholas of Messina, November 1166', in Lisa Bénou and Cristina Rognoni (eds.), Χρόνος συνήγορος. Mélanges André Guillou = Νέα Ῥώμη. Rivista di ricerche bizantinistiche, 8 (2011) 153–170.

• 'A bronze pillar lampstand from Petralia Sottana, Sicily', in Venetia Porter and Mariam Rosser-Owen (eds), Metalwork and Material Culture in the Islamic World. Art, Craft and Text. Essays presented to James W. Allan, London, 2012, pp.283–300.
• 'The Bible, the Qur'ān and the Royal Eunuchs in the Cappella Palatina', in Thomas Dittelbach (ed.), Die Cappella Palatina in Palermo - Geschichte, Kunst, Funktionen. Forschungsergebnisse der Restaurierung Hg. im Auftrag der Stiftung Würth, Künzelsau: Swiridoff Verlag 2011, pp.198–216 (German), pp. 413–23 (Italian), pp.560–70 (English).

• 'Le pitture del soffitto della Cappella Palatina' and 'Iscrizioni arabe nella Cappella Palatina', in Beat Brenk (ed.), La Cappella Palatina a Palermo, Mirabilia Italiae 17, 4 vols, Modena: Franco Cosimo Panini Editore, 2010, vol. I, Atlante I, figs. 158–194, pp. 133–147, figs. 369–384, pp. 286–303, vol. II, Atlante II, figs. 473–1220, pp. 384–823, vol. III, Saggi, pp. 353–407], vol. IV, Schede, pp. 429–456, 487–510, 540–665.  For further information, see here. 
• 'Review article. Islamic archaeology at a difficult age', Antiquity, December 2010, 84/326, pp. 1187–1191. Access this article here.
• 'The tersāne at Alanya and the galleys of Charles d'Anjou', in David J. Blackman e Maria Costanza Lentini (eds), Ricoveri per navi militari nei porti del Mediterraneo antico e medievale. Atti del Workshop: Ravello, 4-5 novembre 2005, Bari, 2010, pp. 185-8.
• ‘L’iscrizioni arabe dei re normanni di Sicilia: una rilettura’ (pp.47–67; Eng. ‘The Arabic inscriptions of the Norman kings of Sicily: a reinterpretation’, pp.324–337); ‘Lapide funeraria di Ibn Muḫallaf al-Kammād, follatore di seta’ (pp.516–517; Eng. ‘The tombstone of Ibn Mukhallaf al-Kammad’, pp.774–775); ‘Lapide funeraria di Ibrahīm ibn Ḫalaf al-Dībāǵī, tessitore di seta’ (pp.515–516; Eng. ‘The tombstone of Ibrahim ibn Khalaf al-Dibaji’, pp.773–774); ‘Lapidi sepolcrali in memoria di Anna e Drogo, genitori di Grisanto, chierico del re Ruggero’ (pp.519–523; Eng. ‘Three funerary memorials to Anna and Drogo, parents of the royal priest Grisandus’, pp.775–778; ‘Lastra con iscrizione trilingue dalla clessidra di re Ruggero’ (pp.512–513; Eng. ‘Trilingual inscription from the clepsydra of King Roger’, pp.772–773); ‘Lastra con iscrizione trilingue di Pietro (Barrūn) il Gaito, eunuco alla corte di Ruggero II’ (pp. 510–511; Eng. ‘Trilingual inscription of Peter-Barrun, a eunuch of Roger II’, pp.771–772; ‘Manoscritto arabo con mappa della Sicilia’ (pp.566–567; Eng. ‘Arabic manuscript with map of Sicily’, pp.796–797); ‘La nuova “Carta della Sicilia” e la topografia di Palermo’ (pp.15–23; Eng. ‘The new “Map of Sicily” and the topography of Palermo’, pp.307–312); ‘Tre lastre frammentarie con iscrizioni arabe in lode di Ruggero II dal palazzo di Palermo’ (pp.499–501; Eng. ‘Three block fragments with Arabic inscriptions from King Roger’s palace in Palermo’, pp.765–766), in Maria Andaloro (ed.), Nobiles Officinae: Perle, filigrane e trame di seta dal Palazzo Reale di Palermo, 2 vols, Catania, 2006. Purchase here.
• Ernst Grube and Jeremy Johns, The Painted Ceilings of the Cappella (= Islamic Art: Supplement I), Genova and New York: The Bruschettini Foundation for Islamic and Asian Art and The East-West Foundation, 2005. ISBN 1872843816. Purchase here. 
• Arabic Administration in Norman Sicily: The Royal Dīwān, Cambridge, 2002, ISBN-13: 9780521816922; ISBN-10: 0521816920. Purchase here.

Full List of Publications

A full list of my publications is available here.

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